TY - GEN
T1 - Decentralization in Bitcoin and Ethereum Networks
AU - Gencer, Adem Efe
AU - Basu, Soumya
AU - Eyal, Ittay
AU - van Renesse, Robbert
AU - Sirer, Emin Gün
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © International Financial Cryptography Association 2018.
PY - 2018
Y1 - 2018
N2 - Blockchain-based cryptocurrencies have demonstrated how to securely implement traditionally centralized systems, such as currencies, in a decentralized fashion. However, there have been few measurement studies on the level of decentralization they achieve in practice. We present a measurement study on various decentralization metrics of two of the leading cryptocurrencies with the largest market capitalization and user base, Bitcoin and Ethereum. We investigate the extent of decentralization by measuring the network resources of nodes and the interconnection among them, the protocol requirements affecting the operation of nodes, and the robustness of the two systems against attacks. In particular, we adapted existing internet measurement techniques and used the Falcon Relay Network as a novel measurement tool to obtain our data. We discovered that neither Bitcoin nor Ethereum has strictly better properties than the other. We also provide concrete suggestions for improving both systems.
AB - Blockchain-based cryptocurrencies have demonstrated how to securely implement traditionally centralized systems, such as currencies, in a decentralized fashion. However, there have been few measurement studies on the level of decentralization they achieve in practice. We present a measurement study on various decentralization metrics of two of the leading cryptocurrencies with the largest market capitalization and user base, Bitcoin and Ethereum. We investigate the extent of decentralization by measuring the network resources of nodes and the interconnection among them, the protocol requirements affecting the operation of nodes, and the robustness of the two systems against attacks. In particular, we adapted existing internet measurement techniques and used the Falcon Relay Network as a novel measurement tool to obtain our data. We discovered that neither Bitcoin nor Ethereum has strictly better properties than the other. We also provide concrete suggestions for improving both systems.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85072852329&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/978-3-662-58387-6_24
DO - 10.1007/978-3-662-58387-6_24
M3 - منشور من مؤتمر
SN - 9783662583869
T3 - Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
SP - 439
EP - 457
BT - Financial Cryptography and Data Security - 22nd International Conference, FC 2018, Revised Selected Papers
A2 - Meiklejohn, Sarah
A2 - Sako, Kazue
T2 - 22nd International Conference on Financial Cryptography and Data Security, 2018
Y2 - 26 February 2018 through 2 March 2018
ER -